Pre-note: This story came about because I wanted to make a follow-up to the first chapter of The Days Long Gone. It's inspired by one of the chapters in the manga Kocchi Muite! Miiko (known as Hai, Miiko! in Indonesia).

Disclaimer: I don't own the Kingdom Hearts franchise.

Happy reading!

"Ven! Ven!"

At the sound of his name, the boy in question stood up to see his two little twin brothers who looked different from each other: the older one had blond hair while the younger, brown. Lively as ever, they dashed toward him, bringing with them their pencils and some sheets of paper. It was as though they wanted to ask for his autograph.

When they got by his side, one of them wasted no time in communicating their intention. "Tell us a story about when we were born!"

Ven made an amused expression. It was unusual for them to be interested about their past. "Hmm? What for, Sora?" he asked.

"Our English assignment," replied the blonde. "The teacher told us to make a passage about when we were born."

"And she said me and Roxas can write the same thing since we're twins!" the brunet joined.

Hearing this, Ven nodded in understanding. That explained why they had brought pencils and paper. Again, he sat down on the sofa, prompting the children to follow suit. They were as ready as could be, their eyes peeled and ears perked.

And so, he began. "So, on the thirteenth of July, seven years ago…"

"Alright, class. Listen up," the teacher spoke up, causing a whole group of seven- and eight-year-olds to settle down. "I've reviewed all your essays about your why you love your families, and they're all wonderful. However…"

Silence wafted in the air when the teacher suspended her sentence. A few seconds passed before she continued. "Roxas, Sora, yours have the deepest meaning. Congratulations!"

The silence was replaced by the sound of cheering and amazement, even though a few children made the most disapproving faces at one of the twins' accomplishment. They grumbled and whined about, complaining fervently why the know-it-all known as Roxas, the batch's smartest, had to be in the limelight yet again.

On the other hand, Roxas and Sora just stared incredulously at the teacher. What they did was write what they had heard from their parents and Ven and add their thoughts here and there. They couldn't believe theirs had been that good; it was such a miracle for them!

The teacher clapped several times to silence her students again. "As I said when I gave you the assignment, the best essay will be presented during the parents' assembly this weekend. That means Roxas and Sora will read their work," she said, garnering enthusiastic and half-hearted approvals from the class in almost equal proportion. "So please come and support them, alright? Class dismissed."

As though on cue, the bell rang, signifying the end of the day. At the command of the head boy, everybody stood up and saluted the teacher. Once she departed, the children went hyper; they hurriedly packed their belongings into their bags and frantically rushed toward the door.

In just a second, the thirty-something children who had been sitting on their benches were now outside the class, leaving the still incredulous Roxas and Sora all by themselves in the class. It was a minute later when they finally left the class and walked abreast, their destination being the front gate where they would take a bus ride back home.

At this point of time, Sora had recovered from his shock and was exhibiting that million-munny grin of his for the world to see. "I still can't believe we won!" he said cheerfully.

"We didn't win anything, it wasn't a competition," Roxas corrected in his level voice, as usual. "Our essay is the best out of all others, and because of that, we have to read it on Saturday."

Sora noticed the uncertainty in his brother's words. "What's wrong? You don't seem excited about it."

The older boy looked down and exhaled audibly. "Sora, I don't wanna go up the stage and read it aloud," he said. "I don't like other people watching me. It's… scary."

That was true. Unlike Sora, Roxas was a very shy person who wasn't quite fond of being the centre of attention; other than his brothers and parents, the only ones he would feel comfortable to be around were his small group of close friends. That he would be having stage fright in front of that many people would come as no surprise whatsoever to those who knew him.

"Don't worry. You're not gonna be alone. I'll be with you up there."

"I know, but… can I not go? Can't you just go and read it for me?"

"You can't be serious," said Sora as he rested his hands on Roxas' shoulders and looked at him in the eyes. "This isn't just my essay. It's yours, too. That's why we're reading it together like Mrs. Gainsborough said."

"Aren't you worried I'm just gonna screw everything up?"

"Awh, c'mon, Rox! Don't be so… what's the word, mystic? Pemistic? Sippistemic? Pessi—"

"Pessimistic."

"I was about to say that! But yeah. Don't be so pessimistic," Sora encouraged. "We still have two days for practice. I'll help you. We're gonna be okay, Rox, I promise."

Sora's words did wonders in diluting Roxas' sense of insecurity. They managed to break through his wall of doubt. Yes, that was Sora for him; he was always cheery enough to uplift others. His cheerfulness was contagious, Roxas could vouch for that, and he was thankful of it.

Smiling, Roxas thanked Sora for his willingness to help out. "You're the best. Well, the second, actually, because Ven's the best."

"What was that?"

"Umm, nothing?"

The school bus came, and Roxas wasted no time dashing toward it, leaving Sora in the dust. This of course caused the little brunet to follow suit; mustering as much strength as he possibly could, he sprinted like never before despite knowing the bus would wait for another fifteen minutes before leaving.

Sora was excited, and he just couldn't wait to break the good news to his family. His mother, father, and Ven would all surely be proud of him and Roxas.

Days passed, and Saturday came around quickly.

On the backstage Roxas and Sora sat, running through their presentation for one final time. Their homeroom teacher was out there on the stage, addressing and thanking the audience for having reserved their time and energy for the assembly. She then went on explaining a little about this and that, touching on the matter of the best essay shortly afterward.

It was then that they heard the sound of their name. Sensing that it was almost time, Sora folded his paper neatly and put it inside his shirt pocket. Roxas did the same, although he looked less than ready; it took him a gentle squeeze on his palm from Sora for him to swallow his anxiety and regain his composure.

Finally, it was time. The teacher's excited voice could be heard booming from the loudspeakers. "Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Roxas and Sora Skylers!"

At those words, the twins showed up from the backstage, passing by their teacher in the process. During that very brief moment, she gave them a reassuring smile and nod, which they reciprocated with a grateful "thank you".

The size of the crowd came as a surprise to Roxas. He hadn't expected this many people to come to the assembly. His resolve wavered a bit, but he stayed strong; there was no way he would fail himself and Sora now, of all times, when he was already standing there on the stage. It was a little too late for that.

"Do you see them?" he whispered to Sora. Clearly, he was referring to their family members.

Sora scanned the crowd to look for a particular, familiar hairdo, and bingo; he found him. "Yeah, there they are. Look."

Roxas looked at the direction where Sora was pointing. There Ven was, on one of the middle rows, his parents sitting on either side. Noticing that Roxas was looking at him, the elder brother waved; this gave the kid a badly needed boost to his confidence.

However, Roxas' attention then fell upon a group of three children. They were among those who just loved bullying him more than anything else. They were seated close to each other, and despite their parents' effort to keep them under control, they kept mocking and jeering at him.

"Ooh, look, that's him!" one of them shouted at the top of his lungs. "Careful up there, Roxie! You're not gonna run away because you're too nervous, are you?"

"Don't wet your pants on the stage because it'd be hard to clean! The stage, I mean, not your pants," a girl joined.

"What's wrong? Scared? Why don't you find your mommy and go cry to her?" the third child, also a boy, chimed in.

They laughed in blissful satisfaction. Roxas kept his silence because he wasn't one to take deprecating comments seriously; it would be a waste of time entertaining them anyway. On the other hand, Sora was having none of it. Somehow, every time someone talked bad about his brother, it was him who felt hurt and sad instead.

If he could yell, he would have yelled right now. Unfortunately, since he was in front of lots of people, doing so would just tarnish his image, so he opted to stay silent and let the insults fly. Besides, were he to shout, he would contradict what was written in the essay.

All that said, someone did take offence hearing those words.

Ven stood up and turned around, his usually playful gaze now as sharp and terrifying as a hawk's. He glared at the group of children making the noises, causing them to be stricken with fear, quieten down, and possibly cower; not a single word would come out from any of them for the rest of the duration of the assembly.

After doing what he could to make Roxas and Sora more relaxed up there, Ven faced the stage. He made an A-OK sign and grinned at his brothers, signalling at them to go ahead and not worry about anything else. After they returned his smile, he sat down again, ready to listen to what the winning essay had to say about him and his parents.

Once the crowd entered a state of silence, Sora took the microphone from its stand and held it firmly. "Well, this is it. You ready?"

"I hope so," came Roxas' reply.

"We're gonna be just fine. Let's do this for mom, dad, and Ven."

With confidence, the younger twin then turned to the audience and beamed his brightest, most radiant smile. "Hi, everyone. My name is Sora Skylers, and this is my twin brother, Roxas," he said, feeling that it was only proper to introduce themselves before presenting.

Roxas was spacing out when Sora suddenly passed him the microphone. With no other choice, he addressed the crowd as well. "We, uh… we're going to read our essay. It's about why we love our family, so we hope you enjoy."

To show their respect, they bowed in perfect choreography. Roxas then returned the microphone to his brother; as it had been agreed between them, they were going to take turns in presenting the essay with Sora starting off.

"Let's do this, Rox," Sora whispered, to which Roxas replied with a faint smile. Inhaling deeply, he took his paper, unfolded it, and started reading aloud. "Why we love our family."

Mom was the first to know that we were going to be twins. Because there were two of us in her tummy, she had some difficulty getting around. Sometimes she became too tired and had to skip work, but she stayed strong. She said that no matter what happened, she would fight to make sure that we would always be safe.

It was about time for Roxas to read, so he too unfolded his copy of the essay. When receiving the microphone from Sora, he expected some of his classmates to jeer at him; they didn't. It looked like they were scared silly of the thought of being on the receiving end of Ven's death glare again.

With that, he began. During this time, dad and Ven—"actually, his name is Ventus, but he always goes around telling everyone to call him Ven"—were always there to help her out. They did all the housekeeping work, watered the plants, and cooked. Then, on the thirteenth of July seven years ago, we were born. They were there to see our birth, too, and dad even brought along a video camera to tape the moment. But he fainted when mom was in labour.

Laughter boomed. Roxas jumped at the sound, but a quick look at Ven—he gave him two thumbs up—renewed his confidence.

He had to be carried out of the room, so Ven was the first after mom to hold us. We were asleep, but one of us woke up in Ven's arm. He made us a promise that he will protect us. He's the best big brother ever. "By the way, it was me who woke up, and now we know that Sora's been such a sleepyhead ever since he was a baby. He sleeps like a bear in winter."

The audience laughed again, even though they still hadn't fully recovered from the previous bout. Roxas started to get comfortable and smiled; he no longer felt worried of being at the receiving end of countless glances from the crowd.

Their amusement was to Sora's chagrin. Not wanting to be a laughingstock in public, the brunet shook Roxas' shoulders and pouted. "That's not what's written!"

"But it's true," Roxas shrugged nonchalantly. "Who woke up earlier this morning?"

"I did."

"Since when seven o'clock is earlier than six thirty?"

Sora had to do something before the presentation turned into a stand-up comedy show. "Ahh… whatever. Move aside! I'm reading next!" he demanded, to which Roxas complied.

After taking possession of the microphone and the audience quietened down, Sora continued where Roxas had left off. "Roxas was only awake for a few seconds. Anyway… yeah." We were taught a lot of things as we grew up. Dad taught us to always be patient, respect other people, and see the good in everything. Mom taught us manners and diligence. Ven taught us to play many games and also to skateboard.

When we were little, all three of them took turns reading us bedtime stories every night and tuck us into bed, but whenever it was Ven's turn, he never left the room until he was sure we were asleep. Mom said he often fell asleep on our bed while waiting and she would just leave him there.

A collective "aww" sounded.

Sora offered Roxas the microphone, which he accepted. It was the blonde's turn to speak again. We heard there are a lot of other kids who don't like being with their families, but we really can't find anything bad to say about ours. They've been our role models, our friends, and our everything. Mom, dad, and Ven, thank you for everything. You're the best mother, father, and brother a boy could ever hope for.

We will never forget what you've done for us, Sora joined in seamlessly.

They have reached the last sentence of their essay. To end it with a bang, they read it together, their combined voices adorable and pleasing to the ears. That's why we love you, now and always!

Roxas and Sora's unison "now and always" was punctuated by a thunderous sound of applause. A member of the audience stood up to hail them with a standing ovation, then followed by another, and another, until nobody was seated anymore.

Their homeroom teacher, who was sitting at the frontmost row, separated herself from the crowd. She came up to the stage and pulled the microphone back to normal height. "Ladies and gentlemen, Roxas and Sora Skylers. They've just told us a very beautiful story about why they love their family."

"Mrs. Gainsborough, can we return now?" asked Roxas.

"Oh, just a minute," replied the teacher. She then cast her gaze over the crowd, looking for someone—three someones, to be more precise—in particular. "Now, before we proceed… I'd like to invite Roxas and Sora's parents and brother. Would the Skylers family please come up to the stage?"

Roxas and Sora were visibly surprised, and swallowed hard at those words. They could only watch as the members of their family walked to the front of the room, accompanied by the constant sound of applause. It only took a few seconds for them to get up the stage, and once they did, they all brought themselves to the kids' eye level.

Sora crossed his arms behind his back and bowed his head slightly. "Um… so, did you like it?" he asked nervously, apprehensive of the answer, although there was a ghost of a smile on his lips.

But actions speak louder than words. Instead of answering the question, the other three members of the family embraced the two children, oblivious to yet another round of applause, whistles, and cheering they were getting.

Roxas and Sora returned the embrace. To be in the warmth of their parents' and Ven's love forever… that was that one thing they really wanted over anything else.

Post-note: Well, that's it. I originally intended this as one of the chapters for The Days Long Gone, but it was well over the word limit imposed by the challenge owner. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this short story as much as I had in writing it! Until next time, stay cool, and have a great day!